Results from yesterday’s warm-up games:
June 6 in Foxboro, Mass.
Portugal vs. Mexico 1-0
June 6 in Harrison, Calif.
Greece vs. Bolivia 2-1
June 6 in Salvador
Croatia vs. Australia 1-0
June 6 in Sao Paulo
Brazil vs. Serbia 1-0
June 6 in Moscow
Russia vs. Morocco 2-0
June 6 in Tampa, Fla.
Japan vs. Zambia 4-3
June 6 in Mainz
Germany vs. Armenia 6-1
today’s games:
June 7 in Jacksonville, Fla.
USA vs. Nigeria (USA! USA! USA!)
June 7 in Buenos Aires
Argentina vs. Slovenia
June 7 in Brussels
Belgium vs. Tunisia
June 7 in Miami Gardens, Fla.
England-Honduras
June 7 in Landover, Md.
Spain vs. El Salvador
June 7 in Foxboro, Mass.
Costa Rica vs. Ireland
More on these matches later.
Apparently I still have a small Life...
I hate The Macarena too, but I don’t know if I’d call it a curse.
Soccer Caucus... That’s hilarious!
Even after Green's 27-minute cameo in Sunday's 2-1 win vs. Turkey, a match which saw the youngster struggle to make an impact, Klinsmann continued to offer praise for the 19-year old winger and continued to insist that he is coming along nicely.
Klinsmann's positive comments about his team's youngest player have done little to slow down growing sentiment that Green is a wasted roster selection and a player who should have been left home in favor of the ever-popular Landon Donovan. As unfair as it may be to already be writing off Green after such a small sample size, the reality is U.S. fans simply don't have much to go on and have been shown little to make many of them dismiss their own worst fears.
Following on from a 3-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina will play their final warm-up game in front of their home fans before traveling to Brazil for the start of the tournament.
Spain has reached unparalleled global heights over six years with an innovative style and a cast employed by the sport’s leading clubs. It will arrive in Brazil on Monday seeking to become the first repeat World Cup champion in 52 years and extend its streak of major international trophies to four.
A small, poor country that has fallen behind Central American rivals, El Salvador has not qualified for the World Cup since 1982 and sends few players to leagues beyond its borders.
Salvadoran problems deepened last year when a match-fixing scandal resulted in lifetime bans to 14 players and sanctions against six others.
Coach Vicente del Bosque said defending World Cup champion Spain will include Diego Costa on the roster to face El Salvador on Saturday, in its last tuneup game before heading to Brazil.
"If we thought that having him in the game would be a risk for his physical shape we would not include him", del Bosque said Friday about the striker who was forced to leave the field during the Champions final he played with Atletico Madrid due to an injury in his leg.
"In the main, everyone is serene.
"There is no nervousness. We know what we can set ourselves without putting any extra pressure on."
Tunisia should provide stern opposition for Belgium, they were unlucky not to qualify for the World Cup and they have only lost twice in their last twelve matches.
The 26-year-old defender was dismissed after an ugly altercation with striker Kevin Doyle, who was left with blood pouring down his face four minutes before the break at PPL Park in Philadelphia, and now faces an anxious wait to discover his fate with Costa Rica, due to launch their campaign against Uruguay on June 14.
"You have players who are forcing their way into the team and will divide opinion. My favoured XI for Italy might divide opinion. That's good for a start.
"It'll give us enormous opportunities on the bench to change things around. It's going to be hot. Most teams won't be able to get through three 90-minute games with the same team.
"It's definitely going to be a 14-man game. You won't see too many teams starting with 11 and finishing with 11. And you'll see teams changing game to game as long as they have the depth to do that.
"I have the opportunity to make changes.
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What he found instead is a curse that still hangs over the country, decades after the highly favored home team lost in the final game of the 1950 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.
By "curse" maybe they mean Heleno's syphilis which killed him a few years back.
There is a very long and sad and boring film about the Brazilian soccer great who did not undergo treatment which could have saved his life.
Lightning delay...